1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a gas lighter, and more particularly to a slender cylindrical gas lighter suitable for carrying in a conventional cigarette pack.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A lighter, such as a gas lighter, is primary used with a cigarette. Thus, it is more efficient to carry the lighter with a smoker that the tighter is easily found whenever it is needed. From the viewpoint of the aforementioned, it is most desirable to carry the lighter in a cigarette pack. However, known gas lighters of the disposable type or of the rechargeable type have short and fat appearances, respectively, such that they can not be stored in a conventional cigarette pack and may only be stored in a pocket. When the lighter is carried in a pocket, it causes an inconvenience because the user must search his pockets for the lighter whenever he needs to use the lighter. Since the known gas lighter and the cigarette pack are separately carried is frequently lost the lighter is frequently lost.
Moreover, the gas injection regulating unit of the known gas lighter comprises varieties of elements and has a complex. construction, thereby causing a problem of increase of the manufacturing cost as well as a complicated and long assembling process. In addition to the above problem, the known gas lighter is inconvenient since the force of the fire or the size of the flame should be manually controlled to continue a desired level irrespective of an outside condition.
With reference to FIG. 9, there is shown in a sectional view a gas injection regulating unit of a known gas lighter. As shown in this drawing, a gas regulator mounting base 51 is separately prepared and fixed onto a main body 50 of the gas lighter. The mounting base 51 is provided at a side thereof with an inner threaded and stepped recess which receives varieties of elements of the gas injection regulating unit 60. In order to mount the regulating unit on the mounting base 51, a cylindrical supporter 64 having a gas suction pipe 65 is inserted in the lowest section or a smallest diameter section of the recess. This supporter 64 has an enlarged diameter section at its top to be seated on the lower step of the recess. A cylinder 61 having a gas inlet 63 is in turn hermetically received in a middle diameter section of the recess on the cylindrical supporter 64. The hermetic reception of the cylinder 61 in the middle diameter section of the recess is achieved by an O-ring 62 received in an annular groove of the cylinder 61.
Thereafter, the gas injection regulating unit 60 is inserted in the largest diameter section, or the inner threaded section of the recess, on the cylinder 61. In order to insert the unit 60 in the recess, a longitudinal gas inlet member 58 having an annular ridge 57 at its middle section is received at its lower end in a central opening 61a of the cylinder 61 such that it vertically moves in a predetermined range in the central opening 61a. This inlet member 58 is also biased by a compression coil spring 66 which is mounted about the inlet member 58 while being seated on the annular ridge 57 of the inlet member 58. The vertical position of the inlet member 58 in the recess of the mounting base 51 is maintained by a gas amount regulator 53 which has an outer threaded surface 52 and screws together with the inner threaded section of the recess. Here, the compression coil spring 66 is disposed between the upper shoulder of the gas amount regulator 53 and the annular ridge 57 of the gas inlet member 58, so that the gas inlet member 58 is normally biased downwardly as shown in the drawing. The upper section of the gas amount regulator 53 has an outer serration 53a engaging with a gas amount regulating valve 54. The gas inlet member 58 is provided with a gas nozzle of the conical frustum 55 at its top and with an axial gas introducing hole 58a which communicates with the central opening of the gas amount regulator 53 through a radial hole 59 which is formed at the lower section of the member 58 below the annular ridge 57. A packing 68 is mounted on the bottom of the gas inlet member 58 to block the lower end of the gas introducing hole 58a. This packing 68 also normally achieves hermetic sealing of a smaller diameter section of the central opening 61a of the cylinder 61, so that the smaller diameter section of the central opening 61a does not communicate with the gas introducing hole 58a of the gas inlet member 58 when the inlet member 58 is fully biased downwardly by the compression coil spring 66 as shown in the drawing.
In order to prepare the gas lighter having the aforementioned gas injection regulating unit, the main body 50 and the mounting base 51 should be separately produced and hermetically bonded to each other, such as by employing a high frequency bonding, thereby causing difficulty in the preparation process of the gas lighter.
In operation of the known gas lighter, the liquified gas charged in the gas tank of the main body 50 is vaporized and introduced into the cylinder 61 through the gas suction pipe 65 and the gas inlet 63 of the cylinder 61 in order and, thereafter, remains in the central opening 61a of the cylinder 61. At this time, the packing 68 hermetically seals the opening 61a of the cylinder 61 such that the opening 61a does not communicate with the gas introducing hole 58a of the gas inlet member 58. No gas is thus introduced to the hole 58a. Upon pressing down a thumb operable lever (not shown) simultaneously with rotating a spool sparker (not shown) coming into frictional contact with a lighter flint (not shown), a biasing section 55a of the lever brought into engagement with the gas nozzle 55 is lifted to bias the gas inlet member 58 upwardly while compressing the compression coil spring 66. Thus, the packing 68 of the member 58 moves upwards to escape from the smaller diameter section of the central opening 61a and to be located about a larger diameter section of the opening 61a, thereby causing the gas to be introduced from the smaller diameter section of the central opening 61a of the cylinder 61 to the gas introducing hole 58a of the gas inlet member 58 through the radial hole 59 prior to gas projection from the gas nozzle 55. At the same time of the gas projection from the gas nozzle 55, sparks are generated as a result of friction between the rotating spool sparker and the lighter flint and ignites the gas projected from the gas nozzle 55 to form the flame. The size of the flame or the force of the fire is controlled by rotating the gas regulating valve 54 which varies the screwing position of the gas amount regulator 53 with respect to the mounting base 51. When the valve 54 is rotated, the size of the inner space of the cylinder 61 is varied to control the gas pressure inside the cylinder 61.
However, the above gas lighter has a problem in that its repeated use inevitably causes abrasion of the packing 68 due to the friction between the packing 68 and the inner surface of the cylinder 61, thereby causing the presence of leakage of gas from the inside to the outside of the cylinder 61. Moreover, the above gas lighter comprises variety of elements and has a complex construction, thereby causing a problem of increasing of the preparation cost as well as of complication of the assembling process requiring longer assembling time. In addition to the above problems, the known gas lighter is attended with inconvenience in carrying the same.